Middle East

The Israeli government, under the influence of the capitalists, has been
trying to privatize the docks for years.

Their interest in that privatisation is clear, and it comes down to
their intention to break the power of the organized workers. The
dock-workers are one of the strongest groups within the Israeli
working-class, having in their power the ability to shut down the docks
and cause direct damage to the industrialists’ profits.

During the last few years some attacks have been made by the government
against workers in attempt to promote the privatisation process.
However, they weren’t able to fulfill their aims yet due to the immense
resistance shown by workers in past struggles. But, the Histadrut (the
Israeli trade union federation) leadership has betrayed the workers
struggle, and agreed to the transfer of some part of the output to a
private company.

Only this time the bosses and the government have gone till the very
end, and after long negotiations with the Histadrut, (where the
right-wing trade union leadership has revealed its general acceptance of
mass redundancies), the government has passed a new act in the Knesset
(parliament) declaring the privatisation of the docks of Haifa, Ashdod
and Eilat. This is an unprecedented interference by the government in
labour relations and agreements – an attempt to subdue organized labour.

The dock workers have declared an unlimited strike, which was limited by
a Labour Court (a court which cooperates with the bosses on the big
issues) decree to merely 25% of the output. The workers’ leadership has
agreed to show "good faith" and increased that amount to 33%.

While the striking workers understand the importance of their struggle
and the practical meaning of privatisation, the leadership of the
Histadrut, and probably also some of the shop-stewards, have prepared a
compromise in advance. The workers want to have a militant strike, but
their leadership is trying to manoeuvre between this and its own wish to
compromise with the big bosses.

As it seems now, there will probably be a compromise-deal with the
government during the next few days. Amir Peretz, the chairman of the
Histadrut, has already announced his acceptance of privatisation as
such, and the disagreement now focuses entirely on the conditions by
which that step is going to take place. It is probable that the dock
workers will have to absorb a deal, falling on them from the top
bureaucracy of the Histadrut, without giving them any opportunity to
decide on it.

There’s no reason why the dock workers should succumb to the dictats of
the government and the capitalists. Privatisation is a death sentence to
workers – not only the dockers, but also those in port towns, and a
threat to all workers in Israel.

Maavak Sozialisti (CWI in Israel), is acting to get in contact with the
most militant workers on the docks. We have explained to them (as well
as to sympathrtic shop-stewards) the risks of a sell-out presented by
the Histadrut leadership, and call for a militant and democratic strike.

We also appeal for solidarity letters opposing privatisation and support
for a strike run by the dockers themselves to the following fax numbers
(and many thanks for those who sent ones already): 00 972 50 868910,
marked for the attention of the Haifa Dockers Workers Committee. Please
send a copy of your fax by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.